Effects of topological constraints on linked ring polymers in solvents of varying quality
| Autor: | Zahra Ahmadian Dehaghani, Mohammad Reza Ejtehadi, Christos N. Likos, Iurii Chubak |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
chemistry.chemical_classification
Materials science Catenane 02 engineering and technology General Chemistry Polymer 010402 general chemistry 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology Condensed Matter Physics Ring (chemistry) Topology 01 natural sciences 0104 chemical sciences Solvent Molecular dynamics Quality (physics) chemistry Radius of gyration 0210 nano-technology Scaling |
| Zdroj: | Soft Matter. 16:3029-3038 |
| ISSN: | 1744-6848 1744-683X |
| DOI: | 10.1039/c9sm02374g |
| Popis: | We investigate the effects of topological constraints in catenanes composed of interlinked ring polymers on their size in a good solvent as well as on the location of their θ-point when the solvent quality is worsened. We mainly focus on poly[n]catenanes consisting of n ring polymers each of length m interlocked in a linear fashion. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we study the scaling of the poly[n]catenane's radius of gyration in a good solvent, assuming in general that Rg ∼ mμnν and we find that μ = 0.65 ± 0.02 and ν = 0.60 ± 0.01 for the range of n and m considered. These findings are further rationalized with the help of a mean-field Flory-like theory yielding the values of μ = 16/25 and ν = 3/5, consistent with the numerical results. We show that individual rings within catenanes feature a surplus swelling due to the presence of NL topological links. Furthermore, we consider poly[n]catenanes in solvents of varying quality and we demonstrate that the presence of topological links leads to an increase of its θ-temperature in comparison to isolated linear and ring chains with the following ordering: Tθcatenane > Tθlinear > Tθring. Finally, we show that the presence of links similarly raises the θ-temperature of a single linked ring in comparison to an unlinked one, bringing its θ-temperature close to the one of a poly[n]catenane. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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